Asia travel diary: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [part 3]

We crammed a lot into our last full day in KL before we were on our next destination, we avoided the shops cause we were flying back into KL for our flight home so last minute shopping could be done then and instead, we played tourists for the day.

Central Market Kuala Lumpur

Oops! We got there early again as they weren’t yet open so we wandered around the area browsing and counting down the time. The Central Market Kuala Lumpur is a centre that showcases the nation’s arts, culture and heritage; and as a result, a very touristy spot. There were an abundance of stalls and kiosks selling trinkets, gifts and souvenirs, clothing, home decor items and of course, food stalls set up inside and outside the premises.

Fresh fruits station

Look at all them fresh fruit packaged in bags and on display!

Fresh mango; $2.00MYR/$0.67AUD*

After venturing around the Central Market and picking up a few souvenirs, we headed upstairs to the food court for brunch.

Oh the choices!

Char kway teow; $6.00MYR/$2.00AUD*

I went with the CKT again. And this one was bomb-diggity good. The flavours, the aroma and the ‘wok fried’ taste was… perfect. The flat rice noodles were soft and delicate yet they still held their form, there was a good amount of crunchy bean sprouts for some crunch and freshness with a handful of chicken pieces and fresh prawns with shells still intact. Yum yum yum!!

Durian crepe stall

Dessert was waiting for me just outside the front entrance at this durian crepe stall.

Durian crepe

Ahhh durian. The king of the fruits, you either hate it… or love it. I fall within the latter category as mother D has been buying these fruits home and stinking up the house hold from day dot so it’s a stench that doesn’t bother or deter me one bit. Having said that, it’s a very acquired smell and taste and one that usually doesn’t fare well with first timers experiencing this fruit. As for the crepes, I didn’t have to share cause the stranger’s not a huge fan of durian (yay for me!); the skin was thin, delicately soft and chewy with a creamy durian filling. If my memory serves me correct, I believe you can find very similar crepes at Bread Top in their fridge with more common flavours of green tea and mango. 😉

With satisfied bellies, we ventured towards Chinatown on foot and its surrounding suburbs and just wandered around exploring…

Hawker food stall down a back alley

Mangos at $6.00MYR/$2.00AUD* per kg

Self portraits! 😉

Getting lost

The city was a mish mash of old and new, poor and rich, all living side by side. You can really see the contrast, especially in this photo.

Juxtoposition of old and new

After getting lost and wandering aimlessly around, we followed signs that led us to the KL Tower and decided to check it out… and get some much needed air con!! Haha

KL Tower

We bought a ticket package for $50.00MYR/$16.67AUD* per person which included access to the blue coral aquarium, a ‘self tour’ of the Atmosphere 360 revolving restaurant (strange…), observation deck and a juice each. The aquarium… was an aquarium, we stayed in there for about 5 minutes to cool down from the heat outside and stare at Nemo and his friends. Next up, a self tour of the Atmosphere 360 revolving restaurant situated 282m above ground level. We weren’t allowed to dine there (no idea why not), but we could walk around and look… We didn’t stay for very long as the slow rotation of the floor made me feel sick (motion sickness!)…

Dessert bar at Atmosphere 360

A weird add on to a tour… not sure if anyone’s interested in having a tour in a restaurant… yeah? It’s no fun staring at people eat when you can’t! Haha… Anyways… We proceeded to the next level to catch some city views.

Views of the city from up above!

A whole heap of construction work going on, some halted and abandoned whilst others in full action.

At the bottom of the tower is the 1 Malaysia Cultural Village offering tourists an opportunity to see replicas of Malaysia’s traditional ‘kampung’ houses in a village setting.

Back out onto the streets and we found our way back to our hotel… that is until we spotted a back alley street nearby full of food hawkers! Naturally, we had to go have a gander…

After walking up and down the back street a couple of times spying on the locals lunches and seeing what looked the safest (hygienically friendly) to eat, we braved our stomachs and got a ramly burger.

Ramly burger; $2.50MYR/$0.83AUD*

A ramly burger is a Malaysian burger typically consisting of a beef or chicken patty, margarine, onions, an egg, cabbage, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce and Maggi Seasoning. What makes it different from the standard burger is the way the burger is constructed. The patty is covered in the condiments and then wrapped in a thin layer of egg before being sandwiched between two buns.

THEN, dinner time rolled around. We went to have a look at the Petronas Twin Towers again, this time with all the lights on before heading to dinner at a local restaurant recommended by the bartender from our hotel.

I thought it was good to add some veggies to our diet with this dish but we weren’t a fan of the ‘sauce’. A watery sauce which resembled more of a coconut soup/water which didn’t instill much flavours with undercooked crunchy veggies. BUT, maybe that was how it was supposed to be. Either way, we didn’t enjoy this too much.

So much food, so little stomach space! Our favourite dish of our entire meal, was surprisingly that lemongrass ice cream! So refreshing, fragrant and cooling. Anyone know where I can get me some lemongrass ice cream back home?! Or am I better off getting an ice cream machine and making it myself? Mmmmm… lemongrass!

Live dancing and entertainment

Petronas Twin Towers by night

One last shot of the towers as it glittered throughout the night… and that was KL during our first leg of our trip!

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